The Quakecon 2018 keynote streamed earlier today and Bethesda and iD had some really interesting stuff to reveal. Firstly Bethesda bought out Escalation Studios that have worked with them on Skyrim VR, Fallout VR and Skyrim Switch. Escalation is currently working on Elder Scrolls Blades and Fallout 76 and will be renamed Bethesda Texas. This is a pretty cool development as Elder Scroll Blades is a game I'm really interested in playing and more Bethesda stuff is always a fun prospect.

Quake Champions

The other big news out of Quakecon is that Quake Champions is now entirely free to play forever. They also dropped all new bot AI and a new class making the game seem like it's hit a proper release. Since it's free to play and an online only game it's hard to say it's hit 1.0 but now that it's free to play forever and such it feels like it's "officially launched." If you login to Quake Champions during Quakecon right now you will get a special Quakecon 2018 machine gun.

Rage 2

The gameplay and game shown at Quakecon of Rage 2 has bumped it up to an instabuy when it launches next year, which is a pretty rare thing for me. I'm going to figure out which pre-order I should get and then jump in. I like owning a physical copy and I prefer PC so I'll most likely pre-order it from a store I can pick it up on launch day. I know i'll just be buying a case and a Steam code but I like having that kind of thing even if it just lives on my shelf.

The new driving and gameplay footage of Rage 2 makes it look like Mad Max Fury Road meets the best parts of Doom and the original Rage but the stages seem a bit more open than the original linear corridor missions of Rage. I'm sure there will be some kind of DLC for it later and a season pass but so far nothing has been discussed about it.

Doom Eternal

When I originally saw the new Doom Eternal reveal I only watched half of it. Needless to say I wasn't too impressed, it really didn't look like a big upgrade from Doom 2016. After coming back and watching the whole reveal i'm not sure i'm too much further from my original thought but the game looks a bit better than I thought at first. If you loved Doom 2016 this looks like doubling down on all that but somehow Doom 2016 didn't hook me. Might have had something to do with my son being born around that time, or maybe I'm just a very old man that is getting tired of ripping and tearing.

It's interesting, the general reception I seem to be reading is that the Doom Eternal gameplay is bonkers incredible and the Rage 2 gameplay show's a mediocre, repetitive game. I... don't know what Rage 2 video people have been watching. I think they're both bonkers incredible.

Looking through my YouTube subscriptions, I noticed some long reveal trailers for Doom Eternal. I didn't watch them. I actually did like Doom 2016, so I think Eternal is something I could get into. The game really made me feel like I was a badass demon slayer and I liked that. I hope and assume Eternal would do the same and also hope and assume the music kicks ass as well (I thought Doom 2016 had a great soundtrack).

And yeah I felt like the Doom Eternal reveal was basically showing that sure, you felt like a badass in Doom 2016 but that was an 8/10 at best on the badass scale, and this one turns it up to 11. BUT. I'm sure that was played by someone way more skilled than I am.

Yeah, Super Shotgun was my favorite and most used weapon. I did finally watch one of the videos. They're both about 20 minutes long and it is when the two guys were presenting the gameplay, which does look awesome. I like the additions they've made. They also said this one is visually superior, "fidelity" they said, and at 60fps. No release date announced, but they did mention the 2014 Quakecon where they revealed Doom 2016. This makes me think we're still a year, maybe two, away from release.

I did not, they didn't even mention that much in the Keynote did they? That gamespot article echoes (and elaborates a bit on) what they've been saying about nukes and anti-griefing measures. I just hope they're done well. Trolls gonna troll, you know?

After watching the video I shared in my last comment, I have a better perspective on Fallout 76. It doesn't seem like PVP is going to be a major problem, there are some really good anti-griefing things going on. You can even block someone and they won't be able to see you on the map. I think it'd be awesome if somehow we could get a Cheerful Ghost server for Fallout 76, I'd feel more comfortable playing with friends instead of strangers. Voice chat is included in the game, which is cool because I already have a good headset. Anyway, I suggest watching the video I shared.

Fallout 76 comes on November 11th, but I'll be busy playing the new Ark Expansion that arrives on November 6th. I'm still kind of hesitant about Fallout 76. I'm thinking of waiting until it's been out at least for a little while to see what it's like and what others say about it before jumping in. It does sound cool though. I was afraid it'd be a Fallout version of GTA Online, but that doesn't quite seem to be the case.

It looks like the idea of playing on a Cheerful Ghost instance in Fallout 76 may be possible eventually but not at launch. From what they’ve said previously, private games will come later. Which is unfortunate but I guess understandable.